Thread: Bloody hell !

Originally Posted by Woody

If thats the case, why don't the landowners contact NZDA. Would be a great way to get new hunters keen. (under supervision of course, perhaps as part of the nzda hunts courses.)

Most farm owners I know of, do let people on hunting for that purpose. If you knock on the door and ask to go shoot a yearling with your kids they'll say yes.

BUT - shooting a couple or five every weekend won't do anything to curb the numbers long term.

Hunters and hunting clubs aren't interested in knocking back numbers. They want to see deer and they essentially farm them. Local NZDA clubs down here have exclusive rights to properties with good deer numbers - but still need choppers and professional cullers to sweep through annually taking a few extras out to manage numbers.

If larger numbers of deer need culled, it needs to be done by people who know what they are doing, using the correct gear. Otherwise it is a waste of time.

And they're worth $7/kg at the moment, so there's money in it. If you had a 'deer problem' and they were worth $7 a kilo, chances are you're not going to be giving them away aye

Thousands have been shot on private land in Southland and Otago over the last couple of years, because prices are good. Some of these places you'd hardly know it has been done.

Friends of mine have taken 140 out of an area that's not that large in the last month. Very selective too mind you, several good stags left and no prime hinds shot. 99% of the stags shot were absolute rubbish. We had deer walking out of the scrub a couple of hundred meters off while the chopper was hooking on and slinging their mates off the hill down to the chiller truck.

Rec hunters are never going to shoot the volume required to check numbers.